assistance of authorities of a foreign country to whom he/she cannot have recourse. • In Articles 27 and 28 the issue of identity papers and travel documents for stateless persons is addressed. An individual recognised as a stateless person under the terms of the Convention should generally be issued an identity and travel document by the state party. • Article 29 provides for equal treatment of state party nationals and stateless persons in respect of fiscal charges and taxes. • Article 31 states that stateless persons are not to be expelled save on grounds of national security or public order. Expulsions are, in principle, subject to due process of law. The Final Act of the Convention indicates that non-refoulement in relation to danger of persecution is a generally accepted principle. The drafters, therefore, did not feel it necessary to enshrine this in the articles of a Convention geared toward regulating the status of stateless persons. • Article 32 of the Convention regulates the issue of naturalisation. The state party shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of stateless persons. They shall in particular make every effort to expedite naturalisation proceedings and to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings. • The Final Act of the Convention recommends that each state party, when it recognises as valid the reasons for which a person has renounced the protection of the state of which he/she is a national, consider sympathetically the possibility of according to the person the treatment which the Convention accords to stateless persons. This recommendation was included on behalf of de facto stateless persons who, technically, still held a nationality but did not receive any of the benefits generally associated with nationality, such as national protection. Ireland has ratified the 1954 Convention but has yet to implement many of its obligations arising thereunder. Ireland has made one reservation to the Convention, which reads as follows: “With regard to article 29(1), the Government of Ireland do not undertake to accord to stateless persons treatment more favourable than that accorded to aliens generally with respect to (a) The stamp duty chargeable in Ireland in connection with conveyances, transfers and leases of lands, tenements and hereditaments, and (b) Income tax (including sur-tax).” (iii) 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is the primary international legal instrument adopted to date to deal with the means of avoiding statelessness. The Convention provides for acquisition of nationality for those who would otherwise be stateless and who have an appropriate link with the state through factors of birth or descent. The issues of retention of nationality once acquired and transfer of territory are also addressed. The 1961 Convention does not address nationality issues within the jurisdiction of a state only, but also offers solutions to nationality problems which might Page 7 of 26